Australia's escalating addiction to gambling
Australia's escalating addiction to gambling
Blog Article
They are the machines that anti-gambling campaigners in Australia say have the addictive "force of copyright" that are fuelling an avalanche of debt, divorce and misery.
Gambling losses in Australia are at a record high after punters frittered away almost A$24bn (£14bn; $18bn) in a year, according to data compiled by the Queensland state government this month. More than half was lost on poker or slot machines at pubs and clubs.
"Gambling in Australia is the equivalent of guns in America," asserts Tim Costello, a spokesman for the Alliance for Gambling Reform. "The gambling industry has captured politics really in the way the National Rifle Association does in America, so we aim to reform that."
Australia has 20% of the world's poker machines, known colloquially as the "pokies". In Western Australia they are confined to a single casino, but they are common elsewhere.
Mr Costello believes that gambling stress pushes more than 400 Australians to suicide each year, a figure that has been given credence by Australia's Productivity Commission. Mr Costello mostly blames devices that are "built for addiction, releasing the dopamine (a mood-setting chemical) that hits your brain with the force of copyright."
Addicts, he tells the BBC, "describe entering a zone where their problems simply dematerialise - it completely neutralises the anxiety".
Australia has more slot machines per person than almost any other country. It has nearly 200,000 in total.
For many gamblers, the machines are just a bit of harmless fun enjoyed with a beer and banter, but for others their flashing lights, spinning wheels and celebratory sounds can be mesmeric, and make losers feel like winners.
Success or failure has nothing to do with skill. These devices are simply computers set up to randomly select outcomes, and are built to excite and entice.
"The machines own you"
On a sunny Saturday, a small group has gathered for a meeting of Gamblers Anonymous in a hall at the Exodus Foundation, a charity in the Sydney suburb of Ashfield.
Hands find comfort wrapped around polystyrene cups of tea and coffee as those seeking help quietly wait for the weekly session to start. Some have squandered vast amounts of money on the pokies, while homes, jobs and the trust of loved ones have also been lost.
"I am 19 years old. I only recently came into the world of gambling," a young woman tells me.
It is her first time at a GA meeting. She has come with a friend but is understandably nervous.
"I have tried not to gamble, but I am signed up with a couple of [social] clubs and I try my hardest not to go there," she says. "But usually when I do have money to go there, I like to gamble and spend my money. Financially it has been really straining because you obviously lose more than you win."
The meeting is run by Les, a community support worker. He is in his early 60s and also speaks openly about his addiction to drugs, alcohol and gambling.
"Even though your drudgery of life outside mightn't be that crash hot, you go into a gambling room suddenly you are important because they want your money and we fall for that illusion," he says. "You don't have a life. The machines own you."
A poker machine manufacturer has been sued in Australia's federal court by a former gambling addict, who alleged the devices mislead and deceive players. The company has rejected the claims, insisting its products are scrutinised by regulators and comply with rigorous standards.
In July, the Victorian government said the number of gaming machines in the southern state would be frozen for 25 years under "harm minimisation" measures.
Responding to record-high gambling losses of $24bn, a spokesperson for Victoria's Minister of Gaming and Liquor Regulation, Marlene Kairouz, said in a statement that "these nationwide statistics… show more work needs to be done across the country. Victoria is now leading the way on reforms to help gamblers stick to their limits and to tackle gambling-related harm."
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